I save up for it while working a bar job and temp office work and renting a room in a shared house. Also worked in australia while I was there. Maybe it’s the assumed cost of it that is prohibitive rather than the actual cost of it?

Not got any trips planned at the moment as offspring II is only 12 weeks old. That said, took the older one on a five week road trip across US and Canada last year (just before she was two and we'd have to pay for her natch) and was surprised just how easy it is to travel with a young kid.

People keep being all 'oh yeah, it's a good time to go, the country will really change soon'. Don't really give a shit about that when I'm lying in a hammock drinking terribly made all inclusive cocktails and smoking cigars for dessert.

(couldn't really afford it when my friends had money, they couldn't afford it when I did, and now I have a mortgage and stuff)

I do kind of regret it, as I love exploring and going away to new places, and I wasn't particularly well travelled as a kid. We tend to go away for long weekends on city-breaks instead, as that works out best for us at the moment.

Maybe when we're a bit more settled we can start going away for a couple of weeks at a time, and maybe when we retire we can go further afield.

but I have been abroad a few times, hoping to finally get to the far-east next year. Mulling over Germany or Amsterdam before the end of the year. I'd also like to go back to Iceland at some point (went for ATP in 2014).

I kind of think relatively short (long weekends/week long trips) are more my speed really. Can't say I really regret not doing the whole year long travelling thing pre/post uni thing though.

y the time I realised I regretted it (and I did- I do), I was far too entrenched in a relatively pampered way of living, that I don't think I could enjoy doing that kind of trip. also, unlikely to ever get the requisite time off.

however, when moving back to Scotland from london, I decided to take a sort gap and go to south America. It was supposed to be 3 mo ths but got cut short to just under 2 because my new employer had a bit of a work crisis an dtehy needed me early.

I enjoyed it (we stayed in some ridiculously luxurious hotels some days, and occasionally slummed it in scabby pousadas. guess which I enjoyed more, guess!) But I didn't fully let go, I feel. I clashed a bit with my travelling companion- or rather I didn't because I wanted to keep the peace, but the only way to do that was to acquiesce to every. single, minute, detail.
In the end, I just craved getting home to see my loved ones and I missed the dogs so much.
I won't be doing it again. A couple of weeks out of my routine a couple of times a year is lovely and keeps me right I think I've realised I don't need much more, I like my life at home and the people there far too much for the benefits of being away to outweigh that.
In short too-

We're doing a three-person, three week tour in a caddy, and having people join us for legs of the trip as we go city to city. Mega pumped. I need to tick off a few southern states, specially south florida, so already started planning even though it's in the summer

interrailing with a friend through central Europe, then solo trips through the Balkans and Baltics/Scandinavia. each trip cost around a grand - however the Balkan trip was a fortnight longer than the other two. it really is just crazy cheap out there. desperate to visit every European country but I probably won't be able to sustainably afford to do so for a while. if I am able to, Andorra/Spain/Portugal will probably be my next spot. want to see the rest of the world too - central America would probably be my ideal outside of Europe.

mixed experiences on the first and last trips (my friend grated on me on the first trip, missed my then-boyfriend/was seriously shaken up by a guy who sexually harassed me in Latvia on the last one), but the Balkans trip was fucking amazing - lots of unexpected awesome stuff and properly eye-opening to see how former Yugoslav countries are coping and modernising post-Communism. really interesting to hear people who've lived through it talk about what they miss about it, what's better now etc.

no matter how much I enjoy being away though, I always look forward to going home at the end. definitely couldn't do what permanently nomadic travel bloggers do (probably a good thing, they're generally sanctimonious motivation coach wankers)